Leeds
United, making a big impression back in the top flight, were
being talked of as possible candidates for a place in Europe as they prepared for a home clash
with Wimbledon in December 1990. They went into
this game having strung together an encouraging unbeaten run of thirteen league
and cup matches to rise to fourth position and they emerged from a potentially
difficult clash against the so-called Crazy Gang with that record very much
intact. A 3-0 victory was emphatic enough but having scored all those goals in
a sizzling first half, United did come in for some criticism for not going on
to record an even more convincing score-line.

Manager
Howard Wilkinson had warned that Wimbledon were likely to provide United with one of
their sternest tasks of the season. ďMy back-four have done very well but they
will probably come under as close a scrutiny as it is possible to get,Ē he
said, bearing in mind no doubt that the combative John Fashanu
had ten goals to his name already that season. Wimbledonís aggressive direct style, capable
of upsetting the best organized of defences, was a
potential threat, of course, but United showed, not for the first time in this
campaign, what quick starters they had become.

A goal in
the tenth minute was followed by another five minutes later and a third on the
stroke of half-time. Lee Chapman had his critics among home fans but he showed
great skill in scoring the first goal, his thirteenth of the season. Mel Sterland and Carl Shutt laid the
foundations and though Chapman had his back to goal when he received the ball,
a deft back-heel and a swift turn gave him the space to strike a sweet left
foot shot past Wimbledon goalkeeper Hans Segers.

Gary Speed
took the honours for the second goal,
fastening on to a long clearance from John Lukic
after Wimbledon full-back slipped and allowed the
Welshman a run at goal. Sterland was one of the
highest scoring full-backs the English game has known and he got in on the act
when he headed in a Gordon Strachan corner, which had
been flicked on by Chris Whyte. It was the
full-backís third goal in a week and his fourth in five games. It left a near
30,000 crowd anticipating more goals from United in the second-half but they
were to be disappointed.

Alan Cork
twice headed over the bar and ex-United defender Terry Phelan hit the cross-bar
with a vicious volley, while John Lukic made a brave
save at the feet of Paul McGee. John Fashanu had been
well marshalled by Chris Whyte
but the Donís striker escaped his marker in the sixty-eighth minute to hit a
fierce shot from twenty-five yards against the angle of the United
goal.

†††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††
††††††††††††††††Teamsheet but did not play

††

Carl Shutt had a part
in the first goal††††††††††††††††††††††††††
John Lukicís long clearance†††††††††††††† Howard Wilkinson saw the danger
of John Fashanu††

†††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††† †††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††made the second goal

†††††

†† ††††††††††

Gordon Strachanís
corner was flicked on by Chris Whyte†††††††††††††††††††††† ††††††Hans Segers was
in the Wimbledon goal†† ††††Ex-United player Terry